


One of Us

by Melonballer99



Category: Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Tension, cheating (at a squint), idiots possibly in love but maybe not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 23:03:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20590586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melonballer99/pseuds/Melonballer99
Summary: Clove had just got back from Casa Amor and her worst case scenario happened. Will she get the closure she needs or will she be able to reconcile with Ibrahim?





	One of Us

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first piece of fiction, ever, so please forgive me. I’m not sure if it’ll even make sense but oh well! CCW please.

The girls had come back from Casa Amor and it felt like everything had been tipped on its head. Clove had not only been betrayed by her current partner, Henrik, she had not only been insulted by one of the new girls, but Ibrahim had brought someone back. When she had saw the video the day before she’d partially convinced herself that they hadn’t kissed. The video had cut out before then so she told herself he would never do that to her, how could he? He always preached about loyalty. The last time they’d been together he had told her he’d never been so comfortable with a girl before, that he’d never been able to just revel in physical intimacy with a woman without expectations. Yet here he was telling Clove that she would get on with Shannon, his new partner. She shouldn’t of been surprised, he was a golfer after all, it’s not exactly a team sport. Her main problem was that he hadn’t even checked in on how she was feeling, it was as if they had never been coupled up, let alone from day one.

Sat with Bobby, Gary, and Rahim, when asked what Casa Amor had been like Clove decided to gush about Arjun. If Rahim could bring a girl back then she could wax poetic about the dog groomer who had respected her and made her laugh throughout her trip away. Either due to her story telling or actual content of her story, the boys had been unenthused listeners so she gave them an apologetic smile, slightly embarrassed.

“Clove, can we have a word?” Ibrahim asked in the short awkward pause that followed.

“Sure, I’d like that.”

Rahim looked over at the other two boys as they made a hasty exit, as if pursued by a bear. Clove took a deep breath and looked at her ‘ex’ straight on, she wanted him to know how much he had hurt her but he wasn’t looking. Eyes still cast towards his hands he shuffled his beanbag closer, confusion buzzed through Cloves brain at this move.

“So... what did you want to talk about?”

Rahim sunk lower into his seat, eyes scanning all around as if looking for the words he wanted to say. “I just- I er- I didn’t think you would stay loyal to Henrik.”

As he took a deep breath to start a new sentence Clove cut him off, a sudden coil of anger flaring up inside her. “I wasn’t loyal to Henrik, I was loyal to you. Not that you know the definition of that word.” Ibrahim flinched away at that which only made Clove more upset. “You pulled me for a chat and the first words out of your mouth aren’t even an apology. Do you even care about how you’ve made me feel? Do you know how hurt I am, how confused I am. I thought we were good, I thought you cared.” What had started off as anger petered off and Clove felt tears threatening to fall. She’d only known him two weeks but he had completely enchanted her during that time, she had been completely swept up in the whirlwind that was Love Island. As cliché as it was Clove had felt like she’d known Rahim for months, not weeks, she had already started thinking about how they would work on the outside. Yet this was their first real challenge and they’d failed. Sure Priya had taken him at the beginning but he’d told Clove there was no connection there and that he’d wanted her, obviously he’d only wanted her when she was physically around.

“I can see you’re overthinking right now” Rahim interrupted. “I’m sorry, ok? You’re right, I didn’t think about your feelings. Could you let me explain though, let me tell you what was going through my head?”

During this, all Clove could think was that she’d practically had to demand an apology from him and it didn’t even seem sincere. She wasn’t sure she was in the right frame of mind right now for him to trash her character. She’d already had Henrik tell her that he’d brought Blake back because he thought she was unfaithful, she couldn’t handle a deep dive into her character from the boy she liked. “I don’t think that would be wise right now, Ibrahim. Maybe tomorrow.” She took another deep breath trying to collect her thoughts as Ibrahim looked at her with a puppy dog face, furrowed brow and lower lip slightly jutting out.

After a moment she got up and left him to stare back at his hands. Although she’d wanted to talk to him she realised that now wasn’t the time, if they talked now she would surely end up angry again and damage their relationship even further. As she headed towards the kitchen area Shannon walked past towards the man she just left. She kept her head down and didn’t look at the Irish poker player, stubborn enough to not let her know what her surely expressive face would be showing. Clove bypassed the girls in the kitchen and headed straight for the dressing room to get changed into her frumpy pjs and clean herself up. Brushing her teeth she watched the majorty of the girls walk into the dressing room out of her peripheral vision, all acting matey as if Blake hadn’t came in and insulted her straight away. Non of them had defended her no matter how many times she’d been forced mediate or reconcile their fall outs. After spitting her toothpaste out Clove looked herself over in the mirror and concluded that she looked as rough and pitiful as she was feeling.

When Clove made it back down to the bedroom she was trying to calculate where she was supposed to be sleeping, whether or not she should go outside to avoid a certain someone yet Bobby interrupted her train of thought. “Clove, don’t you think us singletons should be getting a bed to ourselves?” Star fished across one of the middle beds he turned to her with is usual infectious smile.

She looked at him with a frown but before she could respond Lottie shouted for him to get up. Clove looked around trying to figure out which bed would get her furthest away from Ibrahim and Shannon when Gary had snuck up beside her, surprisingly quiet for such a stocky lad and made her jump. “Wanna share the end bed with me since Lottie and Bobby are doing couples aromatherapy?” He dropped his voice as he added “plus it’s the only bed furthest away from you-know-who, unless you want to bump uglies with the mozzies.”

With a sigh of relief “Gary have I told you I adore you recently? I would love to be your bedmate” she responded dramatically.

Clambering onto the bed Clove thought about how Gary was possibly her closest friend in the villa. After they’d worked out in the gym together and he’d took her criticism on the chin over lying about his and Marisol’s kiss she decided that he’d be someone she could be honest with and she believed he could be honest with her. Lying on her back she’d turned to look at the gold gorilla, he already had his eyes on her, analysing her. “How did you chat go with-?” He jerked his head back to allude to a certain man a few beds down.

“It didn’t.”

Gary furrowed his brow but waiting for Clove to carry on.

“He said I wouldn’t be loyal, that he thought I’d just ditch him for anyone else. I can’t have a conversation like that, not tonight.” As Clove started to explain Gary looked furious, he had already had a few disagreements with Rahim over what he was doing during Casa Amor. Tears started to seep out of the corners of Cloves eyes, she could feel a lump forming in her throat. “I really thought we had something special, Gary, but he obviously didn’t feel that way. I want him to explain everything but I’m not ready right now, I need to- I..I.”

As Clove started to choke Gary gathered her up in an embrace, protecting her from the rest of her room. “Hey, hey, it’s ok. And for the record Ibrahim is an idiot. You’re the best girl here’s and he’s blind for not seeing it already” he whispered. Gary planted a kiss in her hair as he stroked her back, waiting patiently for her to calm down.

After a while she pulled away, bleary eyed and with a grateful yet watery smile. “Thank you, hun, I’m so sorry for crying all over you.” She used the duvet to wipe away her tears from his chest, letting out a hiccup of a laugh. “God, I haven’t even asked! How are you feeling after tonight? Chelsea’s brought back Elijah and Lottie’s jumped ship to Bobby?”

With a huff Gary responded “yeah it’s not ideal is it. It stings that Lottie hasn’t really looked at me but I guess that’s because of Chelsea. She’s a sweet girl but I couldn’t keep up with her, maybe the new fella will be a good fit.”

“Ok, mister diplomat, but what are you going to do next?”

“See what mood Lotta is in in the morning, I reckon she’ll be ready to chat then, I mean we might be going home tomorrow for all we know.”

“I guess my Love Island experience is over already so there’s no point me staying” Clove said dejectedly.

“Oi! Non of that missy, one boy has been an arse but look at you. Once again you’re the most dangerous girl in the Villa and I won’t stand for you giving up and rolling over now.”

“But everyone else is happily coupled up or know exactly who they want. I have no options and on top of that I don’t think I can get over this quick enough to start looking at other boys.”

“There’s at least 2 lads in this room right now that would love you as their partner so don’t kid yourself.”

Clove rolled her eyes at that “sure there is, Gaz.”

“There is!” He insisted. “For one there’s Henrik, he told me how badly he felt earlier and that he wouldn’t of switched if he knew. And for the record, I know you won’t want to hear this, but I know for a fact that Rahim still wants you.” With that Gary rolled over and started to get more comfortable, ready to turn in for the night.

And with that Clove couldn’t even think about getting any sleep. Why had he just finished the conversation like that? Leaving her with a summersaulting stomach. She lightly punched his shoulder blade and whispered furiously “I hate you.”

“You don’t” He threw over his shoulder with a laugh.

“Turn back around right now, Gary or I won’t sleep!”

“Alright, alright” he rolls over. “Want to hear about the time my Nan got into a fight at McDonalds?” Clove eagerly nodded, they’d bonded early on over the love they have for their nanas. “Ok so we’re all in Maccies, me, my cousins, my next door neighbours. Nans took us all there, we were like 7 or 8 at the time, summer holidays so it’s full. While Nans gone to order our happy meals we went to get the high chairs because obviously they’re the bomb. Well the chairs scrape across the floor and this worker- we call him Billy Whiz because he’s so slow, well he starts shouting at us for making a racket. As if she has a sixth sense nan just spins around knowing it’s us in trouble and she starts kicking off, all ‘how dare you raise your voice at my kids’ and ‘I’ll have your guts for garters, mister’...” as Gary carries on explaining how it escalated and how his nan got banned from that McDonalds, Clove fell into a dreamless sleep, cuddling the duvet close to her chest.

***

The following day Clove woke up in a terrible mood which was only made worse when Lottie called the war council. Deep down she was happy to help Hope, she knew that Noah wouldn’t of moved on so quickly so she wanted to learn what he had been talking about to Gary. The problem for Clove was that she was jealous. She had a gut feeling that Hope and Noah would reunite and as much as she was upset on behalf of Priya, she was more upset that she wouldn’t get the reunion she wanted. That she hadn’t made a connection with any of the boys enough for them to trust her fully.

The other problem that Clove faced was that the girls had instructed her to talk to Shannon. She didn’t know why she couldn’t just talk to Noah or Gary, they were her gym buddies after all. Clove had had to grin and bare it, for the girls who hadn’t stood by her side the night before, she had had to converse with Shannon to get the information she needed. And after all of the pain she had endured in the past 24 hours, she had spoke to Shannon and Ibrahim had been right. She was nice, she was a realist but she was also quite funny. How could Clove be upset anymore when Ibrahim had so obviously met his match.

She had gone and told the girls what had happened with Jakub and as she had watched the girls run downstairs to watch Nope unfurl, Clove was too preoccupied with other thoughts. She stayed on the roof terrace and contemplated what her next steps were going to be. She knew she needed closure from Rahim but where would she go from here. Should she stay? And possibly start a friendship couple with someone until she clicks with another? Should she cut her losses and just leave?

As she started to make her mind up Rahim stepped outside and gave her a cautious smile. Clove sat up a bit straighter but pulled her legs up in front of her, wrapping her arms around her shins as if a physical barrier would protect her emotions. They just stared at each other as he made his way closer, sitting next to her a hairs breadth away.

“Is-is it ok if we talk now?” Rahim asked sounding unsure of himself.

“Yeah, I think I’m ready now. I’m sorry for last night.” Both of them had turned away from looking at each other, eyes diverted to the bench across from them.

“God no, Clove! I’m sorry. I’ve been such a mess without you here and even more so when you came back. I... you were with Henrik, I wouldn’t of blamed you for meeting someone else. It wasn’t my intention to call you unloyal last night.”

Clove turned to Rahim, eyes brimming with tears and in a slightly wobbly voice she responded “This was never about Henrik. We were in the hideaway just days before I left, I thought we meant something to each other. I thought it was more than just a fling-“

“It was! It is!” Rahim briefly looked at Clove but had to turn away, shame colouring his face. “You were gone and all I could think was that there were 6 new boys that I bet wanted you. I can’t compete with that, them. You’re so outgoing, Clove, you probably had them all eating out of the palm of your hand. That Arjun, bet he doesn’t mess up his sentences like I do.” Ibrahim’s face screwed up and his fists clenched as he felt jealousy flare with in him. Jealousy that he wasn’t entitled to anymore.

“Oh so now it’s Arjun’s fault!” Cloves legs dropped to ground, she pointed at Rahim in controlled rage. “You were kissing Shannon in the video! I had been gone, what, 2 days? And it was you that moved on. Don’t blame some imaginary people on your actions. You chose her, you need to say it with your chest.” She turned away from him, taking a few deep breaths to ground herself again, she didn’t want to lose herself right now. She wanted to cry as much as she wanted to scream, an overreaction possibly, but she’d never been in such a high intensity situation before.

There was a short pause before Ibrahim could answer. “I chose Shannon. I was thinking about you, us, that kiss and then she walked in she made a beeline for me with the exact same confidence you had on the first day.” They both turned to each other, Ibrahim delicately places his arm behind Cloves shoulder on the ledge. He wanted to desperately to reach out and touch her, but he needed to finish telling her his thought process. “My feelings for you haven’t changed but Shannon came in and she’s more quiet than you. She’s patient like you but she also pushes me. I suppose I’ve been comparing her to you this whole time but I think she’s more on my level. She’s harder to read but I don’t think she’s get bored of me yet...”

“You think I was bored?”

“Yes! No! I don’t know! You’re out there and I’m not, you’ve known me longer and girls don’t stay with me for long-”

“Ibrahim! I have feelings for you! How have a failed so much in showing you that. It’s absurd that you think I was even slightly bored. I told you I wanted us to stay coupled up, why on earth would I say that if I didn’t mean it.”

A small smile had crept onto Rahim’s face at Cloves outburst, completely ignoring everything but he first sentence. “You have feelings for me? You still do? Even after everything?”

“They don’t just turn off because I was away or because you’re with someone else.”

“Where do we go from here?”

“I don’t know. It’s the public vote tonight, I may not even be here tomorrow.”

Rahim grabbed Clove’s shoulders. “Don’t say that! You’re staying in, you need to stay in, though I’m not sure about me.” His gaze travelled from Clove’s eyes down to her mouth, biting his lip he thought about how much he wanted to kiss her again. How much he’d wanted to kiss her since she left. He knew he had been confused before, but right in that moment the only thing he wanted was Clove. In an electrifying moment they surged towards each other, lips locking and hands roaming each other’s bodies. As Rahims tongue traced then seam of her lips Clove’s hands made it to his cheeks, gently scratching his stubble she thought about how much she had missed this. After just a few short days away from each other she was finally satisfying what she had been craving.

As her hands roved up to his temples and then down over his braids he trembled. He felt warmth flood his face and chest as he pulled Clove to straddle him. As their lips unlatched from each other he trailed his down her neck, both letting out moans when he found her pulse point. He moved lower down to kiss along her clavicle, during this moment Clove’s brain caught up to what they’d just done. She fisted her hand at the bottom of his braids and pulled him away.

“We can’t- we shouldn’t of done that.” Both of them deflated, stomachs dropping as they realised the levity of their actions. Clove disentangled from Rahim and took back her previous seat next to him. Once agin they both avoided looking at each other. “You’re with Shannon and we both just betrayed her trust. This can’t happen, Rahim. You know where my head is at, you need to make up yours now.” She hadn’t got the closure she was expecting and now she was stuck in a limbo until the boy she liked decided what he wanted.


End file.
